In this sermon, the apostle Paul is emphasizing the importance of using spiritual gifts and the teaching of God's word to mature in faith. He warns against being easily swayed by false doctrines, comparing it to the way lice crawl from one head to another. The preacher also mentions the presence of unseen creatures in our beds, highlighting the idea that just because something is hidden doesn't mean it's not present and active. The sermon then shifts to discussing the concept of the "man of sin," suggesting that it refers to a succession of people rather than one individual. The preacher urges the audience to stay alert and discerning, as there are those within the body of Christ who promote teachings aligned with Lucifer's heart. The sermon concludes with a call to action, encouraging believers to study the word of God and verify the message conveyed.

We want to read verse 3 and verse 4 this morning. I believe that the enemy wants me not to speak this message this morning. I really believe that. I haven't been too well this week, bit of a bug or something like that there, but I feel that he would wish to shut my mouth, but praise God that will not happen because of God before us who can be against us this morning, amen. And I believe that this is certainly something prophetic that we need to hear, that the church at large needs to hear in these days. We looked at last week, the first few verses, and we looked at obvious apostasy in these days, and I believe wholeheartedly that we are very much in this apostasy that the Apostle Paul talks about. Now, as John the Baptist was a forerunner for Christ, as John the Baptist paved the way for the Messiah, then I believe this morning that apostasy will indeed be a forerunner for the coming of Antichrist or will pave the way for him to rise. And as he rises, he will perpetuate that apostasy with lying signs, miracles, or wonders. The apostasy will be the platform and the mode for which it or he will rise from. So, this morning, let me say from the offset that I'm not going to speculate here as to Antichrist and who it is or what is it. I just want this morning to give you some thoughts, some ideas, and some facts from Scripture, and we can conclude from what is being said. We can take it away, and we can rightly divide the word of truth for ourselves. Now, Paul here in verse 3, he gives us two names, and the first one is that man of sin. We have this falling away. We have this apostasy. We have this defection from truth. And through that, and in the midst of that, then the man of sin shall emerge. It's almost, I suppose, in my mind's eye, I can see a fog. And most of us have walked through a fog or driven in our cars through a fog, and in the distance, you can see something drawn near. You can't really make it out, but it emerges out of or in the midst of the fog. The Bible says that he is the man of sin, the man of sin. You know, Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America, some would say that he is the embodiment of the American dream, the embodiment of the American dream, because of where he's come from, his race, and so forth. And when we look at this, the man of sin, he shall be the embodiment of sin. Now, the scripture says the man of sin. Now, what I want to say here is this, that when we look at that, we don't necessarily see one person, but rather a succession of people. And we can see in context, we can see that in Deuteronomy chapter 17, I think it is, verse 18, which God says that he that takes the throne of his kingdom must write down the law. He that takes the throne of his kingdom. Now, that's not speaking about one person, but it's speaking about a succession of kings. Now, this morning, what I want to say is, I don't know, I haven't come to a conclusion when we think of Antichrist. Many in the church certainly differ when it comes to this. Some believe that indeed, that it's the spirit, that's all. It's the spirit of Antichrist. And not specifically a man, where others will believe that a man shall emerge. I am gravitating, I suppose, this morning, maybe to both, to both. And that man of sin one day shall be revealed, or in other words, shall be uncovered. That which has been covered shall be uncovered. That which has been veiled shall be uncovered. And I just want to show a couple of, I suppose, illustrations for you this morning, what I think about that. That which is covered or veiled shall be uncovered at a particular point in time. I think of the program Top Gear. And most of us in here this morning, we have watched it, or we know about the program Top Gear for our American cousins. It's a program about cars, about petrolheads, whether male or female. And on that program every week, there is a particular car or cars that are profiled. And generally, you might have a supercar. And there's a character in that program called the Stig. And the Stig will take the supercar, and he will take it out on the track. And he will do a fast lap. Okay? Now, the Stig is dressed in racing overalls, and he has a helmet on. Now, there have been a few different Stigs. We are told at least possibly three. There was the black Stig, and then there was the white. We know of at least three. And when the Stig went around the track, if you were watching the TV screen, you could see that he's present. You could see the facade, as it were. But you didn't know who it was, because he's wearing a helmet. He's covered. He's veiled. He's hidden. I remember one particular program. Obviously, they played a bit of a joke, and they said that they were going to reveal the Stig. And in fact, it was Michael Schumacher. They took the helmet off, and there was Michael Schumacher underneath. That was just a joke. But we know now who it was in recent years, because of... Well, you can go on Wikipedia and find out his name. But he was revealed. And that, for me, is just somewhat a little picture of what I see in the scripture here, in regards to what is said about a succession of men, many Antichrists. In fact, when we look at the scripture, many from times past, many of the church fathers, many of the reformers, Calvin and Luther, many of the Puritans, Baxter and Bunyan, many of those used during the awakening, whether Whitfield or Wesley, even the Prince of the Preachers himself, Charles Haddon Spurgeon and Matthew Henry, they would have said that this speaks of the papacy. This speaks of the succession of popes a way, way back. Now, that's what they say. And I'm not going to argue with that this morning, but I'm not... Let me tell you, I'm not going to go into that. But what I do want to say, that may be very well true, but I believe that the spirit of Antichrist is not only in or has been in the Roman Catholic Church, but it's in the Protestant Church, the Evangelical Church, the Pentecostal Church, the Charismatic Church, the Emergent Church, the Seeker-Sensitive Church. That spirit has infiltrated and penetrated Christendom and the body of Christ. Now, I want to make that clear. That's what I believe. The spirit of Antichrist, many Antichrists, and one day that may culminate in one. Okay. That man of sin. It reminds me, I suppose, of Christmas Day. Christmas Day, two weeks yesterday, is that correct? And many people have wrapped presents at this time. Okay. And they're placed under the tree. And those presents are wrapped. And they're sitting there. And they're waiting, I suppose, for that moment in time when they will be unwrapped. And many kids around this nation and around the world, they are getting up even during this month, and they are lifting the lid, as it were, on that little calendar, that advent calendar that's on the refrigerator. And with mum and dad, they're lifting the little lid as each day progresses, as each day passes by. And then we find that it's Christmas Day. We find that moment in time is when those presents will be unwrapped and uncovered. The man of sin will be revealed. I firmly believe this morning, by what I can say and by what I can ascertain through Scripture, that many ways, metaphorically speaking, that the calendar, we have entered into that season of when the windows are being opened in the calendar, that we are slowly but surely drawn near to that fixed moment in time when there will be a revelation. And that fixed moment in time when there will be an uncovering, a revealing in the body. Now, that's what I believe this morning. There will be a man of sin revealed or uncovered, and his platform or his seat shall be this apostasy. Now, I want you to hear this this morning because the Apostle Paul calls him the man of sin, but also calls him the son of perdition. Now, I want you to get this, the son of perdition. In John chapter 17 verse 12, Jesus said that he lost none except the son of perdition, the son of perdition. And so that title was given to Judas who was a false apostle, the son of perdition, a false apostle, wim in the church, so to speak. So, this is the criteria, criteria here which I see for Antichrist. Now, let me say, I don't believe by reading this and by seeing the train of thought or the thinking or the teaching of Paul here, will Antichrist as such be wearing a suit, but more wearing a robe. Because if Paul says he is the son of perdition, which is a title given to Judas who is a false apostle, that causes me to look inside the church and not look to any government or any political leader. Now, that's my thinking when I look at this scripture this morning, the son of perdition, which brings me into Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 14, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Now, as we look back in those scriptures, we see that there are gifts that have been given to men, given to the church, and those gifts are there for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we come into unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So, when we enter into verse 14, what the apostle Paul is saying here, that through those gifts, that through the instruction and the teaching of God's word, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine, every wind of doctrine. This reminds me of Herlice. Let me give you a few facts about Herlice. Herlice don't have any wings, and so they don't fly from one head to another. In fact, they crawl from one head to another, and we're also told that wind can carry the head lice from one head to another. When we look back at the early church, we see one church, we see one people, but it wasn't long before some began to defect from that truth and from that head, and they began to form other churches, or they began to form other cults, or whatever. And when we think of Christendom today, I believe wholeheartedly that we can see that spurt of Antichrist moving from one head to another, crawling from one head to another, and the wind, as it were, of doctrine is the transport to take that Antichrist from one head to another, the wind of doctrine, the doctrines of men or the doctrines of devils, from one head to another, from one branch of Christendom to another, and we have such a defection from truth. And so many Antichrists are everywhere. They are propped up everywhere. They have positions everywhere. They are wearing suits in the church or robes in the church. It doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter about the facade. It's about the heart, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men, by the slight of men. Do you know what that means, actually? That means the thought here of Paul, this is the picture, it means casting dice, hoping to defraud the person. That's the intent. That's the line of thinking here. Casting dice, hoping to defraud. So basically, it reminds me somewhat of some guy going into a casino in Las Vegas, walking up to the table with his dice which are loaded, with his dice which are fixed, hoping to defraud the casino. Because when we look a little bit further in the scripture, cunning craftiness. That means it's been fixed. It's been fixed in the heart. It's been set in the heart. The agenda has been set, what? Beforehand to go in and to defraud. Now I want to say this this morning, Paul is specifically talking here about those that have spirit of Antichrist, those false apostles or false prophets or false teachers that are in the church today that have agenda from Satan. Now you might say this morning, Scott, you're being a bit of a scare monger. Absolutely, I'm a scare monger. Absolutely. Because listen to me, when the captain sends up the wee boy up to the top of the ship and that little contraption that he has at the top, what do you call that? Nest. The captain sends him up there so that little sailor can see if there's any oncoming danger. That's his post. And I believe that's my post. I believe that's the post of of this church. Listen to me, it would be remiss of me if I was the town crier and there was a fire blazing, that I wouldn't run up and down the town shaking my bell and shouting and screaming and hoping that people would hear the cry and hear the sound of the alarm and come out of their homes and come out of their houses. These people have an agenda from from Satan. It's not that they have good intentions. It's not that they are ignorant. It's not that they're naive. They know what they're doing. And we need to know this church. And really, let me say this here, and I don't mean this flippantly, we have to stop walking about in the body of Christ with daisy chains around our necks thinking all is lovely. We need to be alert. We need to be aware. We need to have prophetic foresight into the church. We really do. Because they have set it in their heart. Let me tell you something, Judah set it in his heart to deceive, to betray, didn't he? Beforehand, he colluded and made deals with the religious leaders of Jerusalem to betray the Son of Man. He had purposed in his heart to betray. And this is the same line of thinking. It says, whereby they lie and wait to deceive. They lie and wait. Do you know what that means? We get the English word method from what that is in the Greek. They have method. Do you know another word that we get from that is art? There is method, methodology, and artistry to their deception. If you don't know that Satan's got methods and strategies this morning, well I'm telling you now he has. There's a revelation for you. He has method, and he has strategy, and he has artistry, and how to deceive, and how to separate, and how to sift, and how to take the sheep away from the shepherd. And he will do that with every wind of doctrine. He will do that through spirit of Antichrist. He will do that through seducing spirits that are ripe and rampant in the church and in Christendom today. He is an artist of destruction and deception. That's what deceive means. It means to scatter or to separate the sheep, to cause them to go astray. Jesus said, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters or scattereth. And there are those that are against the Son of God, and they are scattering the sheep, and they have purpose in their hearts to do that because they have been raised up by Satan and permitted by God. Let me say permitted by God. I go back to what God says, I think again in Deuteronomy, and how God will test his people. And he communicates to his people, and he says that false prophets shall rise. False prophets that are able to do signs and wonders, and God will permit their resurrection, and God will permit their rising. Why? To test his people. To test if they will stick and adhere to the law of God or follow the prophet and his erroneous teaching and signs. It always comes back to the word of God, church. It always comes back to the truth. It always comes back to the undiluted, unadulterated, that perfect, inherent word that comes from God, that has come from God. This is our rock this morning. Hallelujah. This is our bell this morning. This is our trumpet this morning. The word of God. The word of God. Paul goes on to say in verse 4 that this anti-Christ will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped. He will oppose, or in other words, he will be adversary, or he will be against God, the Christ of God, against him. It reminds me somewhat of the student protests of late, regardless of what you believe about the rising fees, but they are in opposition to government. They are against government, against the power of government. And you see what the scripture is saying here this morning is, not only does anti-Christ oppose, but desires to exalt. That's the agenda, to exalt a haughty heart. That's what it speaks of. And you see even the protesters on the streets of London, they're not only against, but there's a spirit there to exalt, to exalt their own agenda or their own power. Now, I'm just using that as an illustration this morning as to what we see in the scripture here. All that is called God, all that is holy and pure and righteous, all that is good and virtuous and noble, all that is of grace, so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. This sort of reminds me somewhat of another portion of scripture in Isaiah 14, verse 12 to 14. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. And I believe that those portions of scripture certainly complement and parallel, so that he as God sits in the temple of God. Now, without going into anything and deviating, obviously there are those that believe that this is something that's literal, that another temple will be built in Jerusalem and that Antichrist will sit in that temple. Okay, I'm not going to argue with that. I don't know. But what I will say is this, that scripture is perfectly clear and categorically states that we are the temple of God, the church. Isn't that right? Didn't Paul not say in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 that we are the temple of the Holy Ghost? So, that's what the scripture says. And my thinking is that certainly now, at this particular time, it is quite evident that within the church, there is the heart of Lucifer that sits in the church and shows himself or herself that they are God. Let me say this, what has been popular over the last number of years and still is today, is this line of thinking. It's not so much God is man, but rather man is God. And there are particular ministries, there are particular teachings that will promote that, that you yourselves are gods, that you have the creative power within yourself as a mini-god. I want to say to you, that is Luciferian. That is not of God this morning. That is Luciferian from this scripture. Let me tell you what makes God, God. What makes God? What attributes does he have that makes him stand out? Well, he is omnipresent. He is omniscient. Omnipresent means he's everywhere. Omniscient means he knows all things. And he is omnipotent, which means he has all power. Let me tell you something, you do not have all power. I don't have all power. I am not God. We are not mini-gods this morning. This is not Babel. There are elements that would try to bring a revival of Babel to, we can reach God. We can ascend to the very throne of the Almighty. But I want to say this to you this morning, we are just dust. And if Christ tarries, we will be back in the dust. Praise God we can say this morning that we are children of God. Praise God we can say this morning that God has given power to his church and power to his people. But let me tell you something, it's borrowed power. Because when I was in the army, listen to me, I was given a weapon. I was given a weapon. And during my time in the British army, that weapon was mine. That weapon was allocated to me, but I did not own that weapon. That weapon belonged to the British government. It belonged to the MOD. It wasn't mine. And we need to really grasp, I think, as a church this morning and realize it's all about him. It's all about him. It's not about us. It's all about the Almighty. It's all about the captain of the armies of heaven. I want to say to you again that I see so much in the body of Christ, many antichrists that promote and teach the heart of Lucifer. And that's quite blunt and that's quite frank, but it's the truth. And woe unto me if I do not convey the truth. Woe unto me if I do not communicate what's going on. And we as a church and we as a people of God, we have to be aware. We cannot sit in ignorance. We cannot sit in lethargy. We cannot sit in apathy. We cannot sit back and leave it to others. But we must study to show ourselves approved unto God. We must rightly divide the word of truth. We must take even what I have said this morning and go home and prove it. We must take the message and we must seek God's face. As I said this morning, I'm not about to speculate and say this is the antichrist over here in Brussels or this or the other. What I do know is this, that the spirit of antichrist is prevalent and is at work in the church. There's no doubt about that. And if that culminates or joins together in one individual, then God will uncover it and his remnant will see it. The day of the Lord church is at hand. And God, I believe this morning in these critical days, when the lids of the calendar are being opened and ever so near a drawing closer to that advent, that second coming, that God this morning doesn't want to. Listen to me. This is what I believe. God so much this morning doesn't want to put the fat in your belly, but if he could put a pair of binoculars around your eyes. Amen. He doesn't want a church that has a fat belly sitting back and enjoying the pleasures of this life. Let me say this, build up your treasure in heaven. With a moth nor the thief nor rust can contaminate or thieve or whatever. We need to be a people that have the binoculars or the telescope out at this time within the church and in the midst of the falling away, in the midst of the rise of antichrist, in the midst of decay, in the midst of defection, in the midst of pollution, in the midst of what was pure and holy is now tarnished and refuted and mocked. We need to stand as a church. We need to stand as an army. We need to stand as a body of Christ. We need to stand and engage in warfare. We need to stand and fight the good fight. We need to stand and endure hardness as a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to stand as the army of God. We need to stand friends and to assert ourselves. We need to stand and go on the offensive and not the defensive. We need to stand in the trenches. We need to stand in no man's land. We need to stand and declare that God is with me, that God is for me and every step that I take, Jesus Christ is present because he said I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ because he alone is the master builder. He alone is the chief cornerstone. He alone. Glory to God in the highest. Glory to God in the highest. We praise his name this morning. Hallelujah. It's coming up to the time of year when we think about God made flesh. God made flesh. The God of heaven who put on the likeness of men and dwelt amongst his own people. It's about him this morning. Hallelujah. Bless your name God. There are those church creepy crawlies crawling from one head to another. Crawling from one part of Christendom to another that are being carried with a doctrine that is innately Luciferian and anti-God and anti-Christ. Let's beware. Jesus said watch and pray to his people. Watch and pray. Father we thank you this morning for your word and Lord we fully realize God that the worker of iniquity is here and present God. Lord we have to rely. We must rely. It's imperative that we rely upon you God to show us Lord, to teach us in these critical days, in these latter days. Lord we ask for insight Lord. We ask for revelation. We ask for uncovering. We ask that you would show us because God that which is manifest Lord from darkness is is manifest by light and Jesus you are the light of this world and Lord we just pray that the light would shine brightly. Hallelujah. Praise his name. You know this is just what I see. You know something people would say that you know there's all sorts of creepy crawlies in your bed. All sorts of minute little creatures there and present and we all know that when we look at our beds or climb into our beds there's nothing that can be seen with the naked eye. It's hidden. It's minute and it's small and just because we can't see it does not mean that it's not present and it's not breathing breathing and living and working. So let's stay alert.